All in the Family:
Artistic Differences Fuel a Master’s Class in Acting

Throughout the 20th century, the actors’ art has had a number of innovative, if prickly, practitioners. Adam Hill advises you to learn from all of them.

Breaking Into Showbiz by Adam Hill

A young girl in one of my acting classes not too long ago became hysterical when I dared suggest that some other teachings, beside the Meisner Technique which she so revered, were valid. Granted, she overreacted, but her behavior exposed a fear that grips many young acting students today, which is: If I negate her favored teacher, am I negating all the time she had spent learning her craft?

Such questions are inevitable, I have learned through my years of studying acting, coaching some fairly famous actors in Hollywood and showbiz, and eventually joining the faculty as Visual and Performing Arts Artist-in-Residence at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The problem facing any of today’s acting students can be summarized by the phrase “artistic differences” among several distinguished predecessors, whom I affectionately refer to as “The Great Gurus.” The history of acting teachers’ artistic differences has been marked by the conflicting tutelage of The Great Gurus and their disciples, each of whom has tried to put his or her own stamp on the art of acting...

School of success: Nine young breakthrough actors shine a reality spotlight on what it takes to fulfill dreams of becoming Hollywood stars. Their experience teaches lessons any up-and-coming performer can use.

Every promising performing artist asks themself that single question. Our veteran SAG/AFTRA actor/instructor guides you toward the answer in this virtual classroom based on his own decades-long stage and screen career.